Space Beauty
Farnum B returns (whip out the red carpet and confetti; oh, brother) in charge of an "Inter Galaxy Beauty Pageant" and the "money" behind this contest, known as the dictator/benefactor is actually already fixated on Judy (Marta Kristen, well at least a plot is focused on her, that's something in itself I guess). The girls must submit a photograph and sign a contract which dictates that if she wins, the winner becomes the dictator's Miss Galaxy forever, to live in his kingdom. The mystery is what the benefactor (who lives on a mysterious dark planet currently orbiting the planet the Robinsons are stuck on) looks like for which gains interest from Will. .Dee Hartford (who had two episodes catered to her as Android Verta in "The Android Machine " and "Revolt of the Androids") also guest stars alongside Leonard Stone hamming up something fierce as Farnum, the "greatest showman in the galaxy", as the showman's agent who forgot to tell him that in order to get the gig of the pageant she had to agree in a clause that says he sold his soul! Hartford's name is Ms. Pi Squared and she takes his orders without batting an eye (and he does bark at her as if she were a slave to his every whim which might ruffle the feathers of feminists). The contract holds an evil spell over Farnum whose face turns red when the badness comes over him (Stone provides devious chuckles and a demented look of devilish pleasure when it appears Judy is on the verge of signing). Once again Guy Williams and June Lockhart were spared a rather rotten episode as their characters make no appearance (Professor John Robinson is barely mentioned while Maureen is altogether written out of the episode entirely) during the plot; good for them. Rounded up are female aliens and Smith, certain to find a way to feed his greed, sees that when Farnum signs a new contestant, he is rewarded gold, so the dastardly doctor will use his clever tactics to make sure Judy agrees to participate. The props department gets lazy again and the mysterious benefactor is nothing more than fire encased in a suit of medieval armor along with sentries who wear armor helmets and black capes. The third season has its bright moments but shares some of the worst episodes of the entire series with the previous tepid second season. This is yet another ghastly affair only probably palatable for a young audience. The sole bright spots are Smith's contemptuous barbs with and directly at Farnum, whom he loathes. Seeing Robot in drag as a contestant pretty much confirms that the show was never going to rebound from the disease of the second season; Lost in Space never fully recovered from the previous season as the same minds in charge of writing and producing were creatively bankrupt, using the sci-fi backdrop to poke fun at contemporary themes like beauty pageants. In the previous episode, Robot sniffed of a prisoner's shirt to "pick up his scent" and wore a chef's hat and apron while baking a cake filled with plastic explosive, and in this episode he's wearing drag, speaking in Hartford's voice, as much a clown as Dr. Zachary Smith...I can't imagine anyone thought this was the way the machine would be used when initially presented in the first season. Background information *June Lockhart and Guy Williams are credited but do not appear in this episode. This was due to their characters being purposely written out of the script because the actors laughed during the filming of "The Great Vegetable Rebellion". In the last episode, "Fugitives In Space", Professor and Maureen Robinson were away from the Jupiter II at a radar station, and they are apparently still there. *This was one of Marta Kristin's favorite episodes. Nevertheless, the snow in the final scene was made of hot plastic, which burned her eyes and made her go to the infirmary after shooting. *When Don drops his wrench in the snow scene, it sound like it is hitting the hard surface of a soundstage rather than dirt. *As with all of the scripts written by Jackson Gillis, this one is straight fantasy with the most tongue-in-check lip service paid to science. As examples, the surface of the planet of the Great Tyrant is supposed to be "radioactive cobalt" and Nancy Pi Squared sells Farnum B's soul in order to secure the Beauty Contest contract. Category:Episodes Category:Episodes in Season Three